Brigadier

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

	“	I'm so proud of that name! Brigadier is the name of the command engine that Minecraft uses.	„
		— Dinnerbone on Brigadier^[1]

Brigadier is a command parser and dispatcher, designed and developed for Java Edition,^[2] mainly maintained by Dinnerbone.^[3] It is the first library used by Java Edition that Mojang has released under an open-source license.^[4]

Usage

Brigadier is used for parsing and executing string commands.

Features

Define command nodes with argument or literal branches
- All the commands available in Java Edition are actually the literal branches available for the root command nodes instead of the actual executed commands.^[5]
Modify/fork command source in command contexts
- /execute as <target selector> may modify the command source to be multiple when multiple entities are selected
Active inspection on command parsing^[6]
Listing all possible commands from current command node^[7]
Handle command result real-time on execution success/failure
- /execute store can store the command result to block/entity NBT data or scoreboard
Recursive command node redirection
- /execute run redirects to the root node of the vanilla command dispatcher

Limitations and issues

Brigadier has various numbers of limitations while executing the command, such as the numeric limitations on integer data types such as /effect, /weather, and floating-point data types such as /time, making many integer values parsed in the commands inaccessible.

Since 1.15, whenever the chat cursor is positioned at the start of a node after a whitespace character, command suggestion will say "Incorrect argument for command at position <position number>" instead of displaying the command suggestions, especially the command arguments that requires numbers or strings before parsing and the trailing spaces beyond the command argument list.^[8]

History

Java Edition
October 25, 2014		Dinnerbone mentions Brigadier in the comments on MC-10880.
July 27, 2017		Dinnerbone discloses a non-obfuscated command parser library called "brigadier".
1.13	17w45a	Commands are now handled with Brigadier.
1.13	17w45a	Minecraft introduces Brigadier as a dependency.
September 26, 2018		Brigadier is open sourced under the MIT License.^[9]
1.14	19w08a	Now allows single quotes for strings in commands.^[10]

Version history

Version	Date	Changes
1.0.15	September 26, 2018^[11]	Initial release
1.0.17	February 19, 2019^[12]	Allow single quotes in strings Added `long` argument Implement calculation of suggestions for any text position No longer depend on Guava
1.0.18	July 16, 2021^[13]	Peformance optimizations

Gallery

The /execute command tree, which utilizes an overwhelming amount of the brigadier features.
The /tag command tree, showing the difference between actual executed commands (red nodes) versus the first literal after the root (the "tag" box)
The /msg command tree, showing that aliases have been implemented by brigadier's command node redirection functionality (dashed lines)

References

↑ "Programmers: Play with Minecraft's Inner Workings!" – Minecraft.net
↑ "Mojang/brigadier: Brigadier is a command parser & dispatcher, designed and developed for Minecraft: Java Edition." – GitHub.
↑ "Contributors to Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "We just pulled in our very first community contributed code into a Minecraft Java Edition official library. Woo! 🎉 Want to help out? The first library we've opened is our command engine - it's MIT licensed so you can freely use it in your own projects!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 26, 2018
↑ "Added copyright header, LICENSE, and README.md by Dinnerbone · Pull Request #8 · Mojang/brigadier" by boq – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub. "I'd argue that most people identify command by first literal after root, so that would make "command" a sub-tree and not just path leading to leaf node. /bikeshedding"
↑ "Inspecting a command" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ "Displaying usage info" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ MC-165562
↑ "Preparation for OSS :)" - Preparing for the open source software – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub
↑ "Allow single quote in strings by boq · Pull Request #52" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.15 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.17 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.
↑ "Release 1.0.18 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[1] "Programmers: Play with Minecraft's Inner Workings!" – Minecraft.net

[2] "Mojang/brigadier: Brigadier is a command parser & dispatcher, designed and developed for Minecraft: Java Edition." – GitHub.

[3] "Contributors to Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[4] "We just pulled in our very first community contributed code into a Minecraft Java Edition official library. Woo! 🎉 Want to help out? The first library we've opened is our command engine - it's MIT licensed so you can freely use it in your own projects!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, September 26, 2018

[5] "Added copyright header, LICENSE, and README.md by Dinnerbone · Pull Request #8 · Mojang/brigadier" by boq – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub. "I'd argue that most people identify command by first literal after root, so that would make "command" a sub-tree and not just path leading to leaf node. /bikeshedding"

[6] "Inspecting a command" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[7] "Displaying usage info" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[8] MC-165562

[9] "Preparation for OSS :)" - Preparing for the open source software – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub

[10] "Allow single quote in strings by boq · Pull Request #52" – Mojang/brigadier – GitHub.

[11] "Release 1.0.15 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[12] "Release 1.0.17 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

[13] "Release 1.0.18 · Mojang/brigadier" – GitHub.

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